Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Dangerously moreish (frozen) Oreo brownie bites

To be fair, these should be called Domino brownies, as I used Domino cookies, the Finnish equivalent of Oreo sandwich cookies. But if I'd call them Domino brownies, most of you would expect something like this as opposed to the cute brownie bite above. Also, most of my American readers (that's about 2/3 of all readers of Nami-Nami) don't have access to Domino cookies anyway, and could use more familiar Oreo ones for the same result.

Now, the frozen bit. I first read about frozen brownies a while ago, but dismissed the whole idea. Who likes frozen cakes anyway? They'd be cold and hard and utterly unpleasant, right? Or that what I thought. On the other hand, I've thrown away quite a few very good brownie pieces during my lifetime, just because I forgot them on the countertop for a day too long and they became dry and boring. That's not happening any more, as I've discovered - and totally fallen for - the joys of frozen brownies. You see, a good brownie, made with lots of butter, sugar, chocolate and just a little flour - and, most importantly, NOT overbaked - is absolutely wonderful eaten straight from the freezer - cooling, delicious and almost thick ice-cream-like. I've been cutting the brownies into relatively small pieces after cooling, and we've been nibbling through two batches of those frozen brownie bites during the last week already. Not just the three of us, of course, but with some help from our Scottish friends, grandparents, nephews and various babysitters :)

Estonian summer has been warm and sunny this year (again), and a frozen chocolate brownie is just what you might need to cool yourself a little..

Line a 10 in/24 cm square baking dish with parchment paper. Heat the oven to 170˚C/350F.
Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add butter and chocolate and heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow to cool slightly.
Whisk eggs, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl. Fold in the chocolate mixture.
Stir in the flour, salt and cookies, stir until combined.
Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth top with a spatula.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until the brownie looks dry on top, but is still nicely moist inside.

When you want to serve your brownie warm, then cool a little and cut into big squares (9, perhaps?), serve alongside a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

For frozen brownie bites, cool completely, then cut into small squares or rectangles and place into a freezer box. Enjoy from frozen.

Here the weather keeps changing, it's cold and rainy for several days, then it turns warn and sunny, then cold again, etc.So when I saw this yesterday, it really seemed to be the perfect thing for such a weather: it could be eaten frozen on the warm days, and warmed for the cold days.I made it this morning, and ate a (frozen) bit just now: it tastes fantastic :) My holiday already seems better with this cake ^^.

(I used pecan nuts instean of oreos, I was afraid the oreos would turn soggy if I re-heated the cake.)

Rore - so glad you tried and liked these!!! It's always a pleasure to read that someone likes your recipes. I make this brownie usually with walnuts, but pecans would be good as well, I'm sure. I've only tried the frozen version (4th batch last night!!!) with Oreos, so I don't know how frozen nuts would taste?

Jeff, as I said, I thought it be hard and cold and tasteless as well, but they're absolutely lovely, cold and chewy and tasty :D

Kat - vutt-vutt-vutt, kööki küpsetama. Me Norale meeldivad ka väga!!!

Marisa - eh, I just made another batch last night. We're having a big garden party tonight, and these would be excellent while summer still lasts. (Always fascinated by the fact that seasons are so different across the world).